Armenians worldwide applauded the Cilician Catholicosate for filing a lawsuit in the Turkish Constitutional Court on April 27, demanding the return of its historic seat in Sis, Kozan district of Turkey’s Adana province. The Cilician See’s former headquarters, established in 1293, was confiscated by the Turkish government in 1921, at the culmination of the Armenian Genocide.
Catholicos Aram I announced that should the Turkish court reject the lawsuit, the Catholicosate intends to appeal the ruling to the European Court of Human Rights, which requires that all domestic legal remedies are exhausted before it considers appeals on cases filed against Council of Europe member states. Skeptics of Turkish acceptance of European Court decisions should know that the Republic of Turkey has complied with all rulings since its acceptance of the Court’s jurisdiction in 1990.
The Catholicosate’s lawsuit is a landmark case for several reasons:
— It seeks to restore partial justice for the enormous human, material, and territorial losses suffered by Armenians during the Genocide.
— It shifts “Hai Tad [Armenian Cause] efforts beyond the recognition of the Armenian Genocide into the legal sphere,” as stated by Catholicos Aram I.
— It could set a precedent for similar legal claims, as His Holiness informed The New York Times last month: “After 100 years, I thought it was high time that we put the emphasis on reparation…. This is the first legal step. This will be followed by our claim to return all the churches, the monasteries, the church-related properties and, finally, the individual properties.”
Despite the noble objectives pursued by the Catholicosate’s lawsuit, a controversy surfaced in the Armenian community last week, when several websites and newspapers reported that the Catholicosate of Cilicia had demanded that the Turkish government “either return the property of the Catholicosate of Sis or pay a compensation of 100 million Turkish Liras ($37 million).” Garo Armenian, a prominent Armenian community leader, wrote a cautionary article titled, “Our Sacred Sites are not Personal Possessions.” He stressed that “the Catholicosate’s lawsuit raises a series of important questions which must be collectively considered forthwith with prudent diligence in order to prevent any undesirable precedents.” He also urged the Catholicosate to clarify this issue if the news reports have not accurately reflected the content of the lawsuit.
I contacted last week the Catholicosate’s representatives seeking such a clarification. I was assured in an e-mail by Father Housig Mardirossian, Assistant to His Holiness Aram I, that “The lawsuit of the Catholicosate has one clear objective: The return of the Catholicosate of Cilicia.”
In response to my request for a copy of the lawsuit, Payam Akhavan, a prominent international lawyer and lead counsel for the Catholicosate, stated that “it is not possible or advisable at this stage to share the full application while it is still pending before the Turkish Constitutional Court.”
On questions regarding monetary compensation, attorney Akhavan provided the following explanation: “The fundamental claim before the Turkish Constitutional Court is that Turkey should return the Monastery and Cathedral of St. Sofia, both because of the Catholicosate’s property rights, as well as its religious significance for Armenians. The claim is not for compensation, given that this is not merely private property, but rather, property of religious and historical significance. However, I have been advised by our Turkish lawyer that under Turkish laws and procedures it is necessary, with respect to the property rights claim (and not the religious rights claim) to reserve the Catholicosate’s alternate right to seek compensation by providing a provisional amount…. But I want to emphasize that the claim is not for compensation; it is for the return of the property, to be used for religious worship and related cultural purposes.”
I contacted an independent lawyer in Istanbul who confirmed that Turkish law indeed required that a specific value be stated for a property under litigation.
Now that the financial issue is clarified, there are other important matters facing the Catholicosate and Armenians in general. Some of these questions might be a little premature, but Armenians may want to reflect upon them in order to anticipate the consequences of any eventual decisions by Turkish or European courts:
1) What would the Catholicosate do should the Turkish court or government allow the restoration of the Sis church and its use for religious worship without returning ownership of the property to the Catholicosate? Moreover, what if the Turkish government also offered monetary compensation for the repair of the church headquarters while retaining the property rights?
2) In case the Turkish Court or the European Court of Human Rights decided to return the Sis church property, would the Catholicosate relocate to its historic headquarters or continue to remain in exile in Antelias, Lebanon?
In view of the Turkish government’s recent overtures to the heads of Assyrian and Syriac churches to return to their historic headquarters in Turkey from temporary exile in Syria, Turkey’s leaders may use the Armenian lawsuit as a cover vis-à-vis their own hardliners, and make a similar offer to the Catholicosate of Cilicia.
Pres. Erdogan may make such a gesture for three reasons:
1) To preempt a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights in favor of the Catholicosate, and avoid setting a legal precedent for future Armenian lawsuits;
2) To score a public relations victory in international circles, particularly after his party’s loss of parliamentary majority in last Sunday’s elections;
3) To reap the economic benefits of foreign tourists and Armenian visitors to the historic headquarters of the Cilician Catholicosate at Sis.
Federal Prosecutors indicted last week former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert for:
1) Lying to the FBI on why he had withdrawn nearly $1.7 million from various banks in the last four years,
2) Evading the reporting requirements of banks for large cash transactions.
Each count carries a maximum penalty of five-years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The indictment charges that in 2010 Hastert secretly met one of his former students and agreed to pay him $3.5 million to secure his silence for “past misconduct”, when he was a wrestling coach at the Yorkville High School in Illinois from 1965 to 1981. Since that meeting, Hastert, 73, paid him $1.7 million by withdrawing initially $50,000 at a time from several banks, and after being questioned by bank officials, he reduced each withdrawal to just under $10,000, to evade the banks’ reporting requirements.
In December 2014, when asked by the FBI as to why he had made such large cash withdrawals, Hastert made “materially false, fictitious and fraudulent statements,” the federal prosecutors said. Hastert was making these payments to his former student to conceal sexually abusing him decades ago, according to various news reports.
Hastert’s indictment is of particular interest to the Armenian-American community because of past accusations that he received large bribes from Turkish entities to quash pending Armenian Genocide resolutions, while serving as Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1999 to 2007. These claims were never fully investigated by the U.S. government. After retiring from Congress, Hastert worked for Dickstein Shapiro in Washington, D.C., as a lobbyist for Turkey and other clients.
Ironically, at the start of his political career, Cong. Hastert strongly supported recognition of the Armenian Genocide. He spoke on the House floor on April 19, 1984, in favor of a congressional resolution acknowledging the Genocide. On June 5, 1996, he voted for an amendment to cut U.S. aid to Turkey until that country recognized the Armenian Genocide. Furthermore, in August 2000, Speaker Hastert met with Armenian community leaders in Glendale, pledging to bring the pending Armenian Genocide resolution to a vote, despite Pres. Clinton’s vehement objections.
However, moments before the genocide resolution was to be voted upon on October 19, 2000, Speaker Hastert yanked the bill from consideration, using the excuse that Pres. Clinton had sent him a letter raising “grave national security concerns.” How is it that the Republican House Speaker, who fiercely opposed a Democrat President on almost every issue and supported his impeachment, suddenly decides to agree with him on rejecting the Armenian Genocide resolution? Four days later, the Turkish Sabah newspaper reported that Hastert had agreed to block the resolution on condition that Pres. Clinton made such a request in writing.
Could there have been a sinister reason why Speaker Hastert had a sudden change of heart on the Armenian Genocide issue?
Vanity Fair magazine revealed in its September 2005 issue that former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds had reviewed wiretaps of Turkish phone calls claiming that Speaker Hastert’s price to withdraw the Armenian Genocide resolution would be at least $500,000. The FBI overheard Turkish speakers boasting that they have “arranged for tens of thousands of dollars to be paid to Hastert’s campaign funds in small checks” because contributions less than $200 do not have to be itemized in public filings. In fact, Vanity Fair’s examination of Speaker Hastert’s federal filings from 1996 to 2002 showed that his campaign had received close to $500,000 in un-itemized payments.
Shockingly, rather than investigating Edmonds’ credible accusations, the FBI fired her, and the US government did not allow her to testify in Congress or in court, using the “state-secrets privilege” as a cover.
Not surprisingly, Speaker Hastert’s visits to Turkey in 2002 and 2004 were funded by the Turkish-US Business Council. Consequently, in July 2004, Hastert issued a blunt statement vowing to block all future Armenian Genocide resolutions — a pledge he kept until his departure from the House in November 2007!
Interestingly, Hastert’s personal wealth went from $270,000 to up to $17 million during his two decades of service in Congress, at a time when his congressional salary was $175,000 a year! Where did his millions come from?
Six months after leaving the House, Hastert began to reap the benefits of serving Turkish interests in Congress by joining the firm Dickstein Shapiro as a lobbyist representing the Turkish government, among other clients. He worked jointly with former House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt, sometimes travelling together to Turkey, and splitting millions of dollars in lucrative lobbying fees. Last week, immediately after the federal indictment was issued, Hastert resigned from the lobbying firm.
A full investigation should now be conducted of all allegations against Hastert that have been ignored for far too long. The American public needs to know if he were being bribed, or even worse, blackmailed, by Turkish entities during his tenure as Speaker, the third most powerful office in Washington after the President and Vice President!
The Centennial commemorations of the Armenian Genocide were marked with unprecedented, and sometimes, unexpected developments.
One such occasion was the full page ad placed in the New York Times on April 18 by well-known and controversial Rabbi Shmuley Boteach (Founder, The World Values Network) and the Armenian Genocide Centennial Committee, Eastern U.S. (AGCC), harshly criticizing Pres. Obama for not keeping his campaign promise on the Armenian Genocide.
A knowledgeable source told The California Courier that the ad had upset some White House officials. The placing of the ad coincided with the efforts of the U.S. National Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide Centennial to convince reluctant administration officials to participate in the commemorative events in Washington, D.C., May 7-9.
Nonetheless, Vice President Joe Biden and U.S. Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power attended the Ecumenical Prayer Service at the National Cathedral on May 7, in Washington, but neither delivered remarks nor was their presence acknowledged. Surprisingly, both officials wore the “forget me not” pin, the official logo of the Armenian Genocide Centennial. Also in attendance were Pres. Serzh Sargsyan, Catholicos Karekin II, and Catholicos Aram I.
The paid ad featured a young boy holding a placard stating, “Pres. Obama why did you lie to us?” This was followed by the title of the ad in large bold letters: “1.5 million Armenian victims cry out from their grave: How long will you deny our genocide just to appease the Turkish tyrant?”
The paid announcement strongly criticized both Pres. Obama, for not keeping his campaign promises, and Ambassador Power, for remaining silent after condemning U.S. indifference to Genocide in a book she wrote before assuming her government post (“A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide”). The ad also targeted Turkish President Erdogan, calling him a “bully” and “quasi-dictator who has dismantled Turkish democracy.”
Furthermore, the ad quoted from a news report by CNN’s Chief Washington Correspondent Jake Tapper: “For the sixth year in a row President Barack Obama has broken his promise to the Armenian community, made when seeking their votes as a senator and a presidential candidate, to use the word ‘genocide’ to describe the massacre of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire a century ago. He did this in deference to the government of Turkey.”
The ad reminded readers that Tapper was referring to Sen. Obama’s 2008 statement: “The Armenian Genocide is not an allegation, a personal opinion, or a point of view, but rather a widely documented fact supported by an overwhelming body of historical evidence. The facts are undeniable. …As President I will recognize the Armenian Genocide.”
The authors of the ad went on to state: “Seldom has an American President misrepresented himself so brazenly on an issue of such profound moral importance. Pres. Obama’s willful moral blindness stands in stark contrast to the courageous statement by Pope Francis last week calling for the world’s recognition of ‘the first genocide of the twentieth century.’”
In the ad, the Rabbi and AGCC posed this question to Ambassador Power: “As a leading voice against genocide, will you stand by your principles or will you become yet another who, after entering office, silences her voice and becomes part of the ‘problem from hell?’”
A second newspaper announcement reminding Pres. Obama of his promise on the Armenian Genocide appeared in the Los Angeles Times on April 24. The three-quarter page ad, placed by Ed Muradliyan, a California businessman from Orange County, asserted: “It’s time for you to be the leader you promised to be. On this 100 year anniversary Mr. President, it’s time to fulfill the promise you made.” Muradliyan’s ad featured a picture of Pres. Obama, copy of Amb. Morgenthau’s cable to the State Dept., dated July 16, 1915, and the headline of a news report from The New York Times, dated December 15, 1915. The announcement ended with: “It’s Time to Recognize the Armenian Genocide.”
If one or both of these ads caused some discomfort to White House officials, it was well worth the money!
The ads should have included Pres. Obama’s own words from his book, “The Audacity of Hope”: “Say one thing during the campaign and do another thing once in office, and you’re a typical, two-faced politician.”
Although the commemorative events in Washington were organized with utmost professionalism, there was one major shortfall. When special honors were being awarded at the May 9 Centennial Banquet to prominent individuals, organizations and representatives of countries that had recognized the Armenian Genocide, it would have been only fitting to pay tribute to John Evans, the U.S. Ambassador to Armenia (2004-2006), whose diplomatic career came to an abrupt end when the Bush Administration recalled him for publicly acknowledging the Armenian Genocide. The organizers of the Banquet assured The California Courier that “no slight was intended,” and that it was simply “an oversight.”
Fortunately, this gross error was somewhat mitigated when the “oversight” was brought to the attention of the master of ceremonies, attorney Mark Geragos, who acknowledged from the podium the presence of Amb. Evans. The 2,000 guests at the Centennial Banquet gave the righteous Ambassador an enthusiastic standing ovation and thunderous applause! Needless to say, Amb. Evans deserves far more than mere applause for having sacrificed his career in defense of the Armenian Cause!
(Photo: Reuters) Supporters of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party wave flags during an election rally in I
24 May 2015
Istanbul
When Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, party leader of the Peoples Republican Party (CHP), had a delicious dinner with the American ambassador in Ankara on 22 October 2013, he forgot to complain about the gas. Instead, he just booked a happy-talk trip to Washington, DC. No need for uncomfortable discussions.
And everyone, particularly the American ambassador, was thrilled. Members of Congress and the Executive branch would be interested in seeing Kılıçdaroğlu, said the ambassador. Even the Brookings Institute! Oh good, thought Kılıçdaroğlu, not wanting to dampen the warming glow of the American ambassador’s vacuous ambassadorial smile. So he swallowed the idea (if he even had one) of mentioning the gas. Such a polite, discrete leader of the party of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. So discrete that the words “we are Mustafa Kemal’s soldiers” stuck in his throat, the definitive word “soldiers” becoming bland, impotent “citizens.”
No, the gas was not of the discomforting, gastric kind. It was the poisonous kind, the kind that kills, destroys eye sockets, maims and infects, crushes skulls. Pepper gas. The pepper that is sprayed not shaken, shot in canisters at youthful heads not passed politely from diner to diner. The American ambassador failed to note his treacherous contribution to Erdoğan’s Gezi Park Menu of Death. And party leader Kılıçdaroğlu failed to remind him.
Forty-three tons of pepper gas (labeled “firearms”) rushed from America to Ankara on 23 June 2013 for $365 thousand dollars. Why did he fail to confront? Well the answer is obvious, pathetically obvious. And all you Atatürk-lovers and Atatürk-experts and even Atatürk-haters, know the answer. Still wondering? Would you like a hint? It’s about leadership, responsibility and courage, their absence. And treachery, its overwhelming presence. And so marks Kılıçdaroğlu’s political party.
We come to today. The good old days are back. Just like in 1980, the good old military coup times. The American “boys,” within and without, are again “doing it” to the Turkish nation, which means the Turkish people. Turkish youth die in the mean streets of Gezi and the CHP, once the party of the eternally young Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, can’t even raise a whimper of protest to the American ambassador. Instead, off Kılıçdaroğlu dutifully trotted to America. Met with some members of America’s warmongering Congess. Met with the neocon, imperialisim-mongers at Brookings Institute. And chatted with a sprinkling of the Gülen Movement gangsters, those traffickers in moderately violent Islam and other hallucinatory narcotics. Then, full of American “wisdom,” he returned to Turkey with a “new” CHP.
No Atatürk followers needed. Kılıçdaroğlu purged them. His traveling companion, Faruk Loğoğlu, former ambassador to the USA, became the party’s designated criticizer of all things youthful and courageous. Metin Fezioğlu, the dashing, youthful head of the Turkish Bar Association, spoke at the Council of State in Ankara. As the saying goes, he made a monkey out of Erdoğan. Embarrassingly irate, Erdoğan heckled him in a fine imitation of Third Reich manners. So what does the CHP’s mouthpiece say? Fezioğlu spoke too long showing poor manners.
The Turkish Youth League (TGB), the most valiantly patriotic of all organizations, symbolically rub and wave hoods to a few American sailors to highlight the continuing affront of American imperialism. And recall to the collective Turkish memory the hooding of Turkish soldiers by the Americans in Iraq. Tut-tut, for shame, said Loğoğlu, bad manners. Such paternalistic slop is typical fare for the CHP. And a big reason why genuine Turkish youth avoid it.
Last year’s presidential election campaign was even more pathetic. The “secular” candidate to face the meatgrinder Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was selected by a collaboration of CHP and MHP. After much stressing, straining and pre-natal interviewing, they labored to bring forth a 72 year-old political mouse, a scholarly Islamic obscurity named Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu. America had also whispered his name into a willing CHP ear.
His first name contained the first four letters of the Turkish word for bread, “ekmek.” For reasons as obscure as those for his candidacy, the collective brains of the two parties thought the phrase “Ekmek için Ekmeleddin”( “For bread, Ekmeleddin”) would be an exciting slogan. It is surely possible that in world political history there has been a worse slogan, but not likely. Enhancing the bread image, he also toted a baby in his campaign photograph. Ah, the empowering powers of bread.
Still, Kılıçdaroğlu was optimistic. Why not? It was his idea. Party members were outraged. They had this weak fait-accompli crammed down their throats. This counter reaction inspired Kılıçdaroğlu to rise to Erdoğanian levels of authoritarianism. He demanded, in language a parent would use to a toddler, that everyone just be quiet and vote. “Tıpış tıpış,” he said, just do it! But they just did NOT! Fed up with a ridiculous candidate to represent Atatürk’s party, millions of usual CHP voters boycotted the polls. Predictably, Erdoğan made toast crumbs of “Ekmek için Ekmeleddin.” And that’s how America made sure that Erdoğan would be president. And how the CHP lost millions of loyal voters.
Yet despite Kılıçdaroğlu’s catastrophic decision-making, incompetent leadership and total failure at the polls, he remains the party leader singing the same tired tune. That is, that his party is the only choice to stand against the fascist government. The truth? CHP is fascist, too. But incompetently fascist. The truth? CHP is the worst choice to stand for anything.
AND SO WE COME TO TODAY
Turkey is being dismembered.
It has lost its East to Joe Biden’s favorite cause, Kurdistan.
Its democratic governmental system, especially the judiciary, has collapsed.
The Turkish president’s insistence on acting without constitutional permission is causing severe and dangerous diplomatic upheavals. These outlandish, illegal, bully-boy tactics in a supposedly mature country casts great embarrassment and defamation of character on the Turkish people. It vividly demonstrates the lack of a constitutional justice system, indeed of any justice system whatsoever.
The Turkish army was destroyed by America and its agents inside and outside Turkey. Thus serious security threats prevail for the Turkish people given the outrageously risky policies of its government and its president. The command and staff structure of the Turkish Army remains problematic since the rupture of its chain of command and its drift away from NATO mobilization standards. It all seems reminiscent of the fate of politicized armies whose forgotten ashes litter the battlefields of history.
The presidential paranoiac fantasy of a parallel state is delusional. If there is a parallel state it is Erdoğan himself illegally intruding into affairs that are the constitutional responsibility of the elected government. Only low-grade morons believe that Fethullah Gülen acted alone for 8 years destroying the Turkish Army while the AKP spent all its time being completely deceived. That is, until 17 December 2013 when the police found their shoe boxes stashed with billions of dollars.
What passes for justice is completely in the hands of the government and the presidency. In other words, there is none.
Syria is being destroyed by Sunni forces under the leadership and sponsorship of America, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Jordan. All are committing crimes of aggression and crimes against humanity. Formal criminal complaints have been filed with the International Criminal Court at The Hague.
Borderlands in southern Turkey, particularly in Hatay, are porous and unstable. They are used as staging areas (as is Jordanian land) for a massive assault on Syria, in particular its secular, Alevite government. This can easily be perceived as a genocidal attack. This conclusion is reinforced by the angry, disdainful remarks of the Turkish president towards Alevites in his own country and generally. It is difficult to believe that the people of Turkey would continue to tolerate a government of accused war criminals.
The big plan calls for a dismemberment of Turkey in the east and in the south. This is not news. The main idea is to give the coming Kurdistan a corridor to the sea. This means a passage for Kurdish oil through Syria. It will be a Sunni passage. So too bad for the Alevites. This also means an added bonus named Hatay, in particular Iskenderun harbor. It will become a Kurdish Sunni harbor. Too bad for the Alevites. And this genocide will be a real one for Turkey to swallow.
Blood must flow. So must oil. “Not a gallon you burn, but at least one drop of man’s blood was spilled for it,” wrote Herman Melville about whale oil over 160 years ago. Now we spill gallons of blood for a drop of oil. We destroy nations and races and cultures. We grow beards to celebrate beheadings and crucifixions. Starving children in our streets annoy us. Welcome to the pursuit of the happiness of advanced democracy.
Welcome to hell.
THE COMING ELECTION
The major political parties are the same. They smell of America.
CHP
Kılıçdaroğlu and his CHP are solidly in the American camp. Kermal Derviş, the darling of America’s imperial banking and finance system is back over the ocean with the CHP. And Kılıçdaroğlu is happy. Expect nothing good for Turkey from either. Ever today’s man, the party is loaded with Gülen sympathizers in hopes of capturing religious votes from AKP, the cheapest of short-term tactics. While all Atatürk influences have been cleansed, that doesn’t stop Kılıçdaroğlu and CHP from making money from his name. The CHP TV channel hawks all varieties of Atatürk books, videos, inspirational music, clothing and jewelry. More need not be said why this political party is an inappropriate steward for our sacred homeland.
MHP
The other opposition party, the MHP, the right-wing nationalist party, was born in the bloody run-up to America’s 1980 military coup in Turkey. It helped the USA butcher-boy general, Kenan Evren, do his dirty work thereafter. Evren, Turkey’s Pinochet, both courtesy of the CIA. No party has been more treacherous in helping Recep Tayyip Erdoğan remain in power than the MHP. It has even stooped to resurrect the political baking fiasco called Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu. He will run for a parliamentary seat in Istanbul as a MHP candidate, presumably without his bread loaves.
GDP
The other “so-called” opposition party is the Kurdish Party, the HDP. The HDP supports everything that benefits Kurdish autonomy and separation from Turkey including the PKK, an international terrorist group. . The HDP also supports a new constitution which will help solidify Erdoğan’s death-grip on power. This is a quid-pro-quo for separation. Thus HDP is exactly like AKP.
The ISIS/ISID fiasco is a planned clearance operation of eastern and southern Turkish territories for eventual sovereign habitation by the Kurds. Now the Kurds are cleansing ISIS/ISID along the Turkish-Syrian border. A Criminal Cabal comprised of Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, America and other international terrorist organizations are preparing to mop-up the remainder of ISIS/ISID resistance in northern Syria. ISIS/ISID has done its job very well and will slowly disappear from the scene. The Criminal Cabal (and the Kurds) will then emerge victorious in northern Syria. Then on to Damascus to clean out Assad. Thus the Kurds will get their oil-rich homeland down to the former Syrian seacoast including the former Turkish region of Hatay. America is incredibly generous with other peoples’ property.
There is also pressure applied on the Kurds by the Turkish Islamist government to make the coming nation of Kurdistan an Islamic republic. This is alienating the Alevite Kurds who want no part of the Sunnis and historic Sunni oppression. Assassinations of Alevite Kurdish women in Paris a few years ago were a precursor to this sectarian inner conflict within the PKK. That’s what Turkey and its Middle East backers want. Sunni. Sunni. Sunni. It also increases the genocidal pressure on the Alevites. And no secularism in sight, anywhere.
CONCLUSION
Not really knowing what it wants, that’s what America will get. Chaos, genocide, fascism and religious-inspired terror, a lovely victory for Erdoğan’s advanced democracy and a clueless America.
The deplorable condition of Turkey was brought to us by the interaction of all the above political entities. The violence, dishonesty and antidemocratic political process is killing the Turkish people. But from
America’s perspective the process has done admirably well.
But we, the people, are neither in America nor are Americans. We are members of a fatherland, Turkey. As logical, patriotic people, we should vote for the interests of that fatherland. None of the above political parties serve those interests. Treacherous connivers, they speak with twisted tongues and sold-out souls. We all know this. It is time to fix it.
If you take the easy route and vote for CHP because they will likely be seated as a majority opposition party you are missing the big picture. Surely you now see the quality of the “new” CHP. Turkey needs a new party but not this regurgitated one. It needs a clean, intelligent, patriotic party to serve the interests of similar-minded people. A political entity is needed to describe a buffer and a balance between the fascists and the neo-fascists, that is, between the AKP and the others. We desperately need a parliamentary position that is reliable and America-free. Our children’s needs are not the needs of the Erdoğan family or the Saud family. We need brains, honesty and enlightenment in parliament not bullying, hatred and darkness.
If we are left to be the only true heirs of the enlightened principles of Mustaf Kemal Atatürk and the western Enlightenment…then what? Should we go “tıpış tıpış” like toddlers because there is some false security in CHP or because we are so clever that we can scheme our one vote? What did Mustafa Kemal Atatürk say in situations exactly like today’s? You all know what he said! And you all know what he did! And you all know what he did NOT do!
He did not go to the Sultan’s palace and play cute until the time was right. That remains the CHP strategy, a guaranteed loser against bullying fascists. Atatürk went to Samsun. And we also have a Samsun. Don’t betray your birthright. And don’t think that by collaborating with the sold-out-to-America parties you are doing a good thing. Remember the loaf of bread candidate! It will recur to you like a bad dream in a wet bed.
Don’t vote for the “American mandate” parties. Vote for intelligence, morality and independence. Vote for the interests of your fatherland. Vote for yourself, for your real country, your real fatherland, your home.
Make no mistake about it: The U.S. Holocaust Museum is now unabashedly championing the Armenian cause and the Armenian lobby’s efforts to slander Turkey. This became evident when the Houston branch (Holocaust Museum Houston, HMH) announced earlier this year that it would feature Taner Akçam as a speaker on May 4 (2015). The announcement was accompanied by a short paragraph containing the usual genocide accusations. From April 1 to August 7 the Museum is displaying the controversial, prejudice-laden Armin Wegner exhibit. In cooperation with the local Armenian community, in March the Museum hosted a lecture by Peter Balakian.
The Dallas branch also screened on April 30 the hatred-filled “The Armenian Genocide” pseudo-documentary by Andrew Goldberg.
Although the Akçam talk at HMH was cancelled (due to “sickness”) at the last minute, the Museum didn’t waste time scheduling a talk by UCLA professor-emeritus Richard Hovannisian, on May 27 (2015). It is the same Hovannisian who, having invited Akçam and two other “genocide” proponents (F.M. Göçek and E. Shafak) to a special “forum” at UCLA in 2005, declared at the conclusion of the meeting that, “a future conference would deal with the issues of reparations and territorial demands from Turkey.”
The Turkish-American community in Houston, and Texas in general, is not amused by such naked advocacy of the Holocaust Museum.
The HMH website used to contain a short article entitled “Genocide in Armenia (1915-1923).” The article, in its reference to 1923, and connoting that “genocide” took place in the Armenian territory, is brazenly misleading just by its title alone. That article is now replaced by a longer one, the title of which still carries the 1923 nonsense. The body of the article contains the usual allegations taken from an Armenian script. Ingeniously, the article mentions the 1948 UN Convention on Genocide, but without discussing its substance and caveats.
The intensity of anti-Turkish events by the Museum is unparalleled. Where is the gratitude for the friendship Turks, from the Spanish inquisition in 15th century to World War II, extended to Jews, one wonders. Thanks to Turkish help, thousands of Jews from Vichy France found their way by train to Istanbul during the war. That memory is still fresh, as there are Turkish Jews settled in Turkey that benefitted from that humanitarian effort.
And could it be that the Museum is not aware of the Dashnak-Nazi collaboration in World War II, including the Armenian 812th Battalion created by the Wehrmacht in 1941, as revealed by the Nazi-era German magazine Deutsch-Armenischen Gesselschaft? The 20,000-men-strong battalion was commanded by General Dro Drastamat Kanayan, a war criminal on his own from the time he was a guerilla leader in eastern Anatolia and later the army chief in the short-lived First Republic of Armenia in 1919-1920. The whole idea of the Dashnak-Nazi cooperation was to prove that the Armenians were “Aryans.” Armenian recruits also joined the Panzer Corps and Gestapo in France and Germany.
Interestingly, General “Dro” is one of those “titans” Prof. Hovannisian remarked recently that he had met in his “younger days.”
After the war “Dro” was arrested by American forces, and soon released. He died in Boston in 1956. Years later his remains were taken to Armenia where he was given a hero’s ceremony. Of Dro’s past deeds in the First Republic of Armenia, “The Jewish Times” wrote (June 21, 1990): “An appropriate analogy with the Jewish Holocaust might be the systematic extermination of the entire Muslim population of the independent Republic of Armenia which consisted of at least 30-40 percent of the population of that republic.” Indeed, according to Russian historian A.A. Lalaian, 225,000 Muslims, or nearly 80% of the resident Muslim population, perished in the First Republic of Armenia over a period of two and half years.
One wonders whether the professor will reminisce during his talk his younger days when he met his hero “Dro.” Regardless, it will be a deep irony that a Holocaust institution will be featuring someone for whom a prominent Nazi collaborator was a “titan.”
There is little doubt that the actions of the Houston (as well, Dallas) branches of the Holocaust Museum are reflective of the Jewish lobby’s position in general. The Museum’s stance cannot be divorced from the current realpolitik between Turkey and Israel. But just as in the case of the hideous “Hitler Quote” (a deception!) displayed in the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., one cannot withhold the strong suspicion that generous donations from the Armenian lobby played a major role in shaping the Museum’s attitude toward the Armenian assertions.
One should never underestimate what such donations can deliver!
Back in March (2015), I wrote a 5-page long letter to the Managing Director of HMH protesting the Akçam event and suggested that the Museum give “equal time” to a scholar from the Turkish side. The director stonewalled my suggestion and replied with a cliché-type letter. Her reply, and my further comments in bold italics, are reproduced below.
“Dear Mr. Demirmen,
Thank you for your e-mail of March 2 regarding our upcoming program with Dr. Taner Akçam.
As you know, the mission of Holocaust Museum Houston is to educate the public about the dangers of hatred, prejudice and apathy using the lessons of the Holocaust and other genocides. Thus, we feel it is important that we take the 100th anniversary of atrocities during World War I as a time to examine that history and what can be learned from it.”
The Holocaust Museum’s mission is commendable. But shouldn’t the atrocities inflicted by the armed Armenian bands on the Muslim population likewise be remembered and the lessons there from learned? As I noted in my detailed letter, more than half a million Muslim civilians lost their lives to Armenian terror.
“We understand that Turkey disputes the use of the word “genocide.” Whatever term is used, it is historically clear that more than 1 million Armenians perished as a result of execution, starvation, disease, the harsh environment and physical abuse.”
It is not just that Turkey disputes the word “genocide.” In fact, there was no genocide. In the context of 1915 events, the genocidal intent (dolus specialis), as required in accordance with the 1948 UN Convention on Genocide (Article 2), is missing. We must respect the law. In its February 3, 2015 decision (Croatia vs. Serbia), the International Court of Justice underlined the vital importance of dolus specialis for genocide determination. Other points the court made also support the Turkish position.
“As of 2014, more than 22 countries and 42 of the 50 states in the U.S., have declared those acts “genocide,” according to the International Association of Genocide Scholars. At least 126 leading scholars of the Holocaust have urged western democracies to acknowledge it as well.”
Political entities and scholars are not authorized to establish the crime of genocide. Only a duly authorized court can. This is what the Convention on Genocide (Article 6) says. For the alleged Armenian genocide, there is no such court verdict. Further, if we take note of the opinion of “126 genocide scholars,” how can we ignore the opinion more than 100 other scholars who disagree? Separate from Holocaust, the two events accepted as genocide under international law are the Rwanda and Srebrenica atrocities.
“For all these reasons, we will not change our messaging regarding this talk.”
It is deeply ironic that HMH is sponsoring a program that is distinctly anti-Turkish but supportive of the Armenian position. As noted in my detailed letter, while Turks have extended their warm welcome to Jewish people in their history, Armenians collaborated with the Nazi Germany.
For your information, I am also attaching a sworn testimony by rabbi Albert J. Amateau, now deceased, who lived the tumultuous days of the Ottoman period just before the 1915 events and observed what the Armenian gangs were doing to local population including Jews.
On the occasion of the Armenian Genocide Centennial, Turkish reporters insistently inquired about Armenia’s territorial claims from Turkey.
In an interview published on April 25, 2015, in the Turkish Hurriyet newspaper, a reporter asked Pres. Serzh Sargsyan if Armenia had territorial demands from Turkey. Below is my translation of Hurriyet’s Turkish text of Pres. Sargsyan’s response:
“Since its independence, the Republic of Armenia has not had any territorial claims from Turkey or any other country. Our government’s foreign policy agenda has not had such an issue, and does not have it today. This is clear. We are a full and responsible member of the international community. As a UN member state, we understand our role in the international community; we respect the principles of international law.… If you pay close attention, Armenia’s demands for land from Turkey are discussed in Turkey, not in Armenia! As to why this is so, I let everyone draw their own conclusions.”
During a meeting with representatives of the Armenian-American community on May 7 in Washington, DC, I asked Pres. Sargsyan to clarify his comments to Hurriyet which were misunderstood or misinterpreted by some Armenians and Turks. The President explained that he had not said that Armenia did not have territorial demands from Turkey. He had simply stated that Armenia did not present such demands, and added: “We have no right to say that we have no territorial demands from Turkey. We also have no right to say that we have such demands.” The President went on to say that “Armenian political parties in the Diaspora are free to present such demands.”
Pres. Sargsyan is clearly indicating that as a head of state, demanding land from Turkey — a powerful and menacing neighbor — could have serious consequences on Armenia’s national security, which is not the case when such claims are made by individuals or organizations.
Earlier that same day, the morning of May 7, during Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian’s press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, another Turkish journalist asked the same question about Armenian territorial claims from Turkey. Nalbandian gave the same answer as the President: “Armenia has not made territorial claims from Turkey.” He also wondered why is this issue raised in Ankara rather than Yerevan?
Four years ago, on July 23, 2011, Pres. Sargsyan gave a firmer answer when an Armenian student asked him about the eventual return of Mount Ararat and Western Armenia:
“It all depends on you and your generation. I believe my generation fulfilled its task when it was necessary in the early 1990’s to defend a part of our homeland — Karabagh — from enemies. We were able to do that…. My point is that each generation has its own task, and it must be able to carry it out, and carry it out well.”
The Armenian President’s answer created a huge storm of controversy in Turkey and Azerbaijan. Journalists and officials in both countries mounted hysterical attacks on Armenia, accusing Pres. Sargsyan of “urging Armenian youth to occupy Mt. Ararat and Eastern Turkey.” Insulting adjectives were hurled at Pres. Sargsyan by Turkey’s then Prime Minister Erdogan, Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc, Minister Egemen Bagis, Pres. Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, and the Foreign Ministries of both countries. Erdogan even demanded an apology from Armenia’s President. To incite the masses, protests were organized in Turkish cities where photographs of Pres. Sargsyan were burned!
It is understandable why Turkish leaders are so apprehensive when the issue of Armenian territorial demands is raised. Knowing full well that their ancestors eliminated the Armenian population from their native lands, Turkish officials are haunted by the fear that Armenians would reclaim their historic homeland of Western Armenia, today’s Eastern Turkey!
In order to unite Armenians around the same set of demands, I believe we should adopt the slogan — “seeking justice” — which includes all Armenian claims from Turkey as expressed in the Pan-Armenian Declaration of the Armenian Genocide Centennial adopted in Yerevan on January 29, 2015, by the governments of Armenia and Artsakh, and leaders of major Diasporan organizations. Paragraph 6 of that Declaration calls for “restoring individual, communal and pan-Armenian rights and legitimate interests.” Furthermore, the Declaration’s preamble specifically mentions “the dispossession of the Homeland,” the Treaty of Sevres of August 10, 1920, and Pres. Woodrow Wilson’s Arbitral Award of Nov. 22, 1920, which granted Armenia a territory several times larger than today’s Armenian Republic.
